Re-writing history “brainwashing” our children

The Chair of the Parliamentary Education Committee Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow has said he would look in to Rupa Huq’s claims that the Conservatives were rewriting history by excluding Labour achievements from the A Level history syllabus.

Rupa Huq, Labour’s MP for Ealing Central and Acton asked a question in parliament last week and followed it up with a ‘Soap Box’ film on BBC 2’s Daily Politics show, arguing that there was a pro-Conservative bias to the curriculum introduced by Michael Gove, which risked “brainwashing our kids”.

While Churchill and Thatcher’s achievements were highlighted in the OCR exam board’s syllabus she said Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments were completely absent, as were the achievements of the Atlee government – the introduction of the Welfare State and the NHS. Students are asked to compare Labour’s weaknesses with the Conservatives’ strengths.

Since asking her question in parliament Rupa says she’s been deluged with teachers thanking her for voicing their concerns. Robert Halfon first of all dismissed her case on Daily Politics, saying it was ‘inevitable’ that the achievements of Churchill and Thatcher would predominate and that “there are much bigger priorities to worry about in schools” but was then forced to concede that his committee should look at her concerns.